Back at last…Finally, the September Coffee Cup.
Okay, finally the new external disk drive arrived. Thankfully, it got here before everything blew up. When it arrived I had only 1 GB of space left — everything was sooooo slow I was growing moss on my mouse. But, once I got it plugged in and moved all the photos and electronic books to the external, I had 21 GB free and things were moving much faster (except for the expected slow down because I have some virus checking done every time I open files. So, I’m happier and now I should be back on track with the blog and photos.
This months coffee cup is a Starbucks Blue Mug. It was in all the Starbucks this summer but seems to be pretty thin on the ground when I was in Starbucks shops during the last few weeks. I checked their website and they have a brown mug but not this blue one. Luckily, I picked this one up this summer and saved it for September. It’s perfect for hot chocolate, tea, coffee, or any warm drink. I love the heft and feel of it. The slight curve to the lip is really nice. It’s very reminiscent of the old white mugs you used to get in diner — not that there’s that many old diners around anymore. It has modern lines but with the comfortable feel and psychological comfort of the old diner mugs. Also, it’s big enough so I don’t have to make repeated trips to the coffee machine when I’m working and holds heat fairly well — as well as any uninsulated cup anyway. I like it.
Next, I said I was going to post a picture of my organized pantry area. Last time I posted a picture, the shelves were nearly empty and everything was piled on my living room floor. Well, now it’s all back in the pantry area including a lot of stuff that didn’t fit before. Having the baskets helped because you can pile/load more into them than you can when lining things up on the shelves. I also put things in the baskets by type so all the mixes, sweeteners, baking stuff, etc. are in one basket, all the soup and soup related stuff is in another, one is all spices, and another (on the floor) is all drinks, whether powder or bottle. So now the hallway is navigable when going back to do the wash or to the bathroom, which is around the corner and out of sight (and is currently another new project but stalled as I try to figure out just how far I want to go with it — at first I thought just paint but now…I’m thinking, and that’s always dangerous.)
I’m thinking a curtain over the pantry might help disguise it and make the hallway (visible to anyone from the living room, the kitchen, and the dining room) look nicer. But then you have to move it out of the way every time you want something there, and the number of times that would get done could make for a very dirty curtain very quickly unless it was a dark color and that would make the area too dark. What do you think?
I’d decided to learn to knit socks on circulars so I could knit both socks at the same time. I got a couple of books out of the library and looked online for some tutorials and finally cast on some yarn and started a pair of winter socks for wearing around the house when it gets cold instead of shoes. Well, truthfully, I hardly ever wear shoes in the house anyway, but in winter my feet get cold, so nice warm socks are a must.
Anyway, it said in most sources to use a 40 inch needle, so that’s what I used, but I’m thinking of switching for a 60 inch if I don’t get the hang of moving the socks about when I change sides pretty soon. Maybe just putting a marker between the edges so it’s easier to find when the circular gets sucked into the sock and I don’t have an end loop left when I finish the second sock before I turn to come back on the other side. Otherwise, it’s not so hard once you get used to it. The fact that I’m making both socks at the same time is wonderful, especially since I don’t have a pattern and these are sort of ad hoc — so now I can do the same thing to both socks without having to remember way back to when I did it on the first one (so far the whole note taking thing isn’t working out too well).
Once I finish increasing to the even knitting for the foot, I plan to do a tighter knit on the sole of the foot — I’m thinking knit on one row and knit 1, slip 1 on the other row — sort of what you do for the heel flap but for the entire bottom of the foot. Hey, it’s worth a try to see how it comes out. What I love about knitting is the wonderful way you always can have do overs when something goes wrong.
Speaking of things that need a do-over, the following is a political rant (I’m still upset) so move along if you’re avoiding such rants …. Really, I’m Democrat with extreme Liberal tendencies, so bail now if you offend easily.
I’m still in a snit over the political candidates for both parties. This country can’t afford another term with a Republican in charge. Especially, a Republican whose economic and foreign policies are nearly indistinguishable from the guy who got us into the mess we’re in in the first place. And especially not with a Republican with a totally unqualified Veep who, based on her answers to the simplest of questions, just confirms my suspicions of her inability to do the job. Heck, I’m more qualified than her and no one asked me to be Vice President. I saw a YouTube video for an ad for Michael Palin for President — unfortunately he can’t run because he’s British, but they make a good case in a tongue and cheek way that he’d still be better.
I just want to vote FOR a president at some point in my life instead of voting against the lesser evil. I’ve heard some people plan to vote Republican just because they figure if the country hits bottom people might finally wake up but just think of all the people who have to suffer first. Why not try to do your best to help your country. Look what fear has done to us over the last 8 years. This just has to stop. We need our Constitution and our Bill of Rights restored. We need the checks and balances that our founding fathers put in place in the beginning of this nation restored so that we can move forward into the future and not backward into darkness.
[Hyperion here:] And it would be nice to have a V.P. that was capable of understanding elementary school level science.